Today Asus held an event in NYC showing off it’s new S101 netbook. As you probably already know, the S101 is Asus has transformed the Eee PC into a high-style, ultra-thin product in the S101, as opposed to focusing on making the system as cheap as possible, which is the general trend we have been seeing in netbooks. Yes, in about a year’s time the netbook market has started to break into segments and while Asus (and other companies) are trying to get below the $300 mark, we also have the S101 coming in at $699.

In the US market we should see the S101 in both black and brown (no champagne color) with 16GB of SSD storage, 30GB of online storage, Intel’s Atom N270, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, and wireless n. It has a 10.2-inch (1024×600) LED backlit display and runs Windows XP. Other markets will see a $799 version with a 32GB SSD but that won’t be in the US, at least initially.

The system is 264 x 180.5 x 18-25mm and 2.3 pounds, making it one of the lightest netbooks available and also probably the thinnest. This is with a 4-cell better which is getting a bit over four hours of battery life according to an Asus rep. The official specs put the battery life at 5.4 hours. As for the build, it’s quite nice. The system’s thinness is impressive and build quality is on par with the rest of the Eee PCs, which is to say it’s solid. The S101 does have some metal thrown in, such as chromed highlights and an aluminum palmrest and they didn’t forget the bling–there is a crystal at the end of each side of the display hinge. The overall effect is a higher-end netbook than what we have seen in the past but the thin profile remains it’s most impressive characteristic.

{ad}In the time I spent with the machine, I was pretty impressed (at least more than I expected). The S101 thinness and weigh start inevitable comparisons between it and devices like the Sony TZ, Panasonic R7, and Lenovo IdeaPad U110, which is great to see from a device under the $1000 mark, but you do have to accept that there is not a standard hard drive and it is powered by the Atom processor. The design has some nice changes from models like the 1000H, including a different battery style and the card reader is moved to the rear as well as some questionables ones–the rocker mouse buttons are back. The keyboard felt a bit flimsy, but definitely workable and the cursor controls and multi-touch trackpad were as good as the other 10-inch Eee PCs. Performance should be the same as the other devices with the N270, though you are trading a 2.5-inch disk for the 16GB SSD so that will affect certain aspects of the system.

The $699 price is a something people are going to take issue with because you are basically getting a lighter, slimmer Eee PC 1000. It is nice, and it seems more professional than the white, plasticy models that people have been buying for the last year, but the S101 has the same limitations as any other netbook. Personally I would say that the changes between it and the IdeaPad S10 are not significant enough to justify an extra $300, but if you are looking for the absolute thinnest and lightest netbook out there, as well as the best looking, the S101 is what you want.